my diy mesh screen tops....on the cheap

prime8reef · Jun 25, 2014

Thought I'd post my diy screen tops. Very inexpensive and super easy to do.
I found most all the parts at Lowe's and Joann fabrics. For under $25 I built mesh screen tops for two 20long aquariums and still had enough leftovers to make another screen top (25"x12").
The framing is lightweight plastic with metallic finish. Measured properly it will fit snugly on the inside of your bracing and not get knocked off by jumping fish. The mesh screen is thin yet strong and there is no shadowing or diffusion of lights.
Completely corrosion free and looks very clean.
I chose to do two tops that sit side by side instead of one long rectangle cover for two reasons:
1) have partial protection against fish jumping out while working in the tank whether it be frag and coral placement or regular maintenance
2) didn't want to cover my overflow box/build around the overflow box due to the U-tube and keep a symmetric look to the cover.
List of parts& prices (may differ from city to city):
Screen railing: $4/8ft stick @Lowe's
Corner pieces: $2/4pack @Lowe's
Spline: $5/25ft bag @Lowe's
Mesh screen: $1.50/yard @Joann fabrics (72"x36")

Tools needed:
Mini hacksaw
Razor or exacto knife
Scissors
Marker or scratch awl

The build:
Measure the inside diameter of your aquariums bracing ring. The cover will sit on the inside lip of the bracing frame.
Be sure to subtract 3/4" from the ends of the screen frame 'railing' to allow for the slide in corner pieces.

Once all pieces are cut to desired length, snap in the corner pieces and assemble frame.

Make sure the rabbit/channel that the spline goes in are all on the same side. But this shouldn't be an issue as the corner pieces only slide in one way(one side of the clip is wider than the other)
Cut your mesh material(tulle fabric) to the size of the frame leaving about 1-2" larger than the area of the frame to allow for tightening or tautness.

Cut a length of spline to match the total length of the frame.
Starting at one end of the frame, push in the spline with your fingers or a spline roller. A spline roller isn't really needed as the spline snaps right into the rabbit easily with finger pressure. Rollers are good if you want to mash the spline into place. The spline is diff rubber and will deform to fill the rabbit but you really don't need to, the spline stays in good without it.
Work your way around the frame keeping the mesh tight as you insert the spline all the way around. You may want to slightly pinch the mesh material at the corners to avoid wrinkles in the final project.
Trim the excess mesh away using a razor blade or exacto knife. Cut along the outside of the spline carefully to remove excess mash and for a clean look.
If you feel that you want a more permanent frame, you can place a small thin bead of silicone in the rabbit/groove before inserting the screen and spline. Don't use super glue or you may get blushing on the frame( cloudy residue). You can, however, place a thin layer of super glue on the ends of the corner pieces before snapping into place in the frame.
Pretty much that's it! You're done.

Place on the inside lip of your aquarium's plastic brace and enjoy the peace of mind that none of your jumpers will end up on the floor.
I built two of these frames, for pieces in all, in under a few hours.

prime8reef · Jun 25, 2014

Some more views of the tops in action. In all actuality I think it took me a total of about half hour spent on each aquarium cover. I just take alot of breaks and measured twice, cut once.
The railing is easy to cut with a mini hacksaw but if you want a faster cut you can use a rotary tool. Just keep in mind that this material (railing) is hollow plastic and you don't want too much friction from, say, a table saw that may deform the hollow grove that the corner pieces slide into. I think the amount of strokes with a mini hacksaw to cut through the rail was, like, 10-15. You also don't have to cut completely through the rail as once you cut through the width of the sides, you can bend and snap it easily without any deforming of the groove.

davocean · Jun 25, 2014

Nice job, looks clean, and great tutorial!

revhtree · Jun 25, 2014

Yes great job and thanks for sharing!

FLipp · Jun 25, 2014

how'd ya get it nice and stretched? pause.

Pete polyp · Jun 25, 2014

I wish I could have found the plastic frame when I built mine. I could only find white painted aluminum. I think the end price for my 40b was $18

Scatterheart · Jun 25, 2014

Very nice. Looking into this soon.

PaulKreider · Jun 25, 2014

Looks awesome!! I'll definitely be doing this for the next tank!

mrbee2828 · Jun 25, 2014

Looks great, I've never had luck doing the angles. I don't understand how this works with the 1 frame placed with the spline track facing outward. Could you show how the final underside? I know it's not usually pretty but just curious.

Stussi613 · Jun 25, 2014

I bought some 1/4" poly screen for my tank, but I'm wishing I had seen this first. Really like the look, I'd just need to figure out how to deal with my returns that come over the top of my overflow boxes.

Great write up, thanks for sharing.

Carlitosway84 · Jun 25, 2014

Cool write up! Was just going to try this out on my 55 as it's heating up with glass lids and like my wrasses to much!
One question.... The mesh you used mis plastic? I saw some metal ones at HD but was concerned about rusting out.

prime8reef · Jun 25, 2014

mrbee2828 said:
Looks great, I've never had luck doing the angles. I don't understand how this works with the 1 frame placed with the spline track facing outward. Could you show how the final underside? I know it's not usually pretty but just curious.

Thanks for the compliments! Here's an underside shot of the one built around my overflow box with a reverse corner:

The corner clips have guides that slide into grooves in the railing. They also have one side wider than the other only allowing you to insert them into the railing one way. To get around this shave down the wider side with a razor or exacto knife:

You can see the difference in the one on the bottom from the uncut clip on top:

With that tab shaved down you can now create a reverse corner to accomplish any turns in your design

Hope this helped.

prime8reef · Jun 25, 2014

Carlitosway84 said:
Cool write up! Was just going to try this out on my 55 as it's heating up with glass lids and like my wrasses to much!One question.... The mesh you used mis plastic? I saw some metal ones at HD but was concerned about rusting out.

If you are referring to the railing, I found it at Lowe's. It's actually plastic with a metallic coating. I don't know if it's like powder coating or some metallic coating, but it comes in silver,and grey. Lowe's is closer to me than HD so I went there first and scored. The mesh is actually polyester material called 'tulle'. Used for making brides veils and wedding stuff. I found it at Joann fabrics but I'm sure any fabric store or craft store carries it. You CAN find 'bird netting' at HD and other home improvement stores. I wanted a finer mesh since sometimes when I order fish online I tend to get tiny or juvenile fish that could easily jump through the 1/2" mesh that bird netting has.

prime8reef · Jun 26, 2014

Stussi613 said:
I bought some 1/4" poly screen for my tank, but I'm wishing I had seen this first. Really like the look, I'd just need to figure out how to deal with my returns that come over the top of my overflow boxes.Great write up, thanks for sharing.

Thanks stussi,That's primarily the reason I built one section around my entire overflow box. I could have easily made the screen to cover the overflow box and just trim around the U-tube but I wanted more access to the box for cleaning purposes and also a symmetric or continual look to the frame without too many funky turns or angles. One idea I did have was to use a shower curtain ring and simply cut a circle in the mesh material where the U-tube would be located and secure the ring in place with fishing line. Then you would put the cover on the tank, insert your U-tube and start the siphon.But then you run into the problem of not being able to remove the screen without breaking siphon every time.The corner clips are 3/4" squares and the tabs that slide into the railing are 1.25" long. You're angles/turns require almost 3" length of railing so you can insert the clips securely.So to make the frame with THAT many turns just wasn't do-able due to tabs on the clips being so long. I mean you could do it. It just, in my mind anyways, wouldn't look good and with my ocd, it'd drive me nuts, lol.

prime8reef · Jun 26, 2014

FLipp said:
how'd ya get it nice and stretched? pause.

When I started inserting the spline into the groove, I started with one of the longer sides or 'runs' first and continued down the railing, tugging slightly at the other side (in front of the spline as you go down the line). If you start with one of the shorter ends of your frame, you tend to get more wrinkles. When you get to the corners you want to pinch the corner of the fabric to kind of make a pleat, in the fabric outside the frame. This will help get rid of wrinkles that trend to occur at corners and cause uneven tension across the face of the screen. As you make your way around the frame just give a slight tug to the material until you've completed the entire run. If you do get uneven tension, you can always just pull out the spline and re-tighten the fabric. That is another reason I opted not to use a spline roller. Those tend to deform the spline, mushing it into the channel and making it harder to pull out to correct the fabric and replace.

Carlitosway84 · Jun 26, 2014

prime8reef said:
If you are referring to the railing, I found it at Lowe's. It's actually plastic with a metallic coating. I don't know if it's like powder coating or some metallic coating, but it comes in silver,and grey. Lowe's is closer to me than HD so I went there first and scored. The mesh is actually polyester material called 'tulle'. Used for making brides veils and wedding stuff. I found it at Joann fabrics but I'm sure any fabric store or craft store carries it. You CAN find 'bird netting' at HD and other home improvement stores. I wanted a finer mesh since sometimes when I order fish online I tend to get tiny or juvenile fish that could easily jump through the 1/2" mesh that bird netting has.

Thank you! Lot of great info and great photos.
Nice job!